Origin: The Prologue is based on ideas and incorporates lines from one of T.S. Eliot’s unpublished poems, entitled “Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats.” Additional material was written by Trevor Nunn and Richard Stilgoe. It was orchestrated by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Style: The Overture is very upbeat. The main sections of it are done in a straight swing style, while a small portion of it is done as a choral group.

Soloists: Most of the Jellicles have small, introductory solos. Munkustrap and another Tom (usually Gus) have longer solos near the end of the song.

Original Poem: Text is unknown, from what I can tell.

Lyrics:

Are you blind when you're born? Can you see in the dark?
Dare you look look at a king? Would you sit on his throne?
Can you say of your bite that it's worse than your bark?
Are you cock of the walk...When you're walking alone?

Because jellicles are and Jellicles do.
Jellicles do and Jellicles would.
Jellicles would and Jellicles can.
Jellicles can and Jellicles do.

When you fall on your head, do you land on your feet?
Are you tense when you sense there's a storm in the air?
Can you find your way blind when you're lost in the street?
Do you know how to go to the Heaviside Layer?

Because Jellicles can and Jellicles do.
Jellicles do and Jellicles can.
Jellicles can and Jellicles do.
Jellicles do and Jellicles can.
Jellicles can and Jellicles do.

Can you ride on a broomstick to places far distant?
Familiar with candle, with book, and with bell?
Were you Whittington's friend? The Pied Piper's assistant?
Have you been an alumnus of heaven and hell?

Are you mean like a minx? Are you lean like a lynx?
Are you keen to be seen when you're smelling a rat?
Were you there when the pharoahs commissioned the Sphinx?
If you were and you are, you're a Jellicle Cat!

Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.

We can dive through the air like a flying trapeze.
We can turn double somersaults, bounce on a tire.
We can run up a wall, we can swing through the trees.
We can balance on bars, we can walk on a wire.

Jellicles can and Jellicles do.
Jellicles can and Jellicles do.
Jellicles can and Jellicles do.
Jellicles can and Jellicles do.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.

Can you sing at the same time in more than one key?
Duets by Rossini and waltzes by Strauss?
And can you (as Cats do) begin with a 'C'?
That always triumphantly brings down the house?

Jellicle Cats are queens of the night, singing at astronomical heights.
Handling pieces from the 'Messiah.'
Hallelujah, angelical choir.

The mystical divinity of unashamed felinity.
Round the cathedral rang 'Vivat.'
Life to the everlasting cat!
Feline, fearless, faithful and true to others who do-what . . .

Jellicles do and Jellicles can.
Jellicles can and Jellicles do.
Jellicle Cats sing Jellicle Chants.
Jellicles old and Jellicles new.
Jellicle song and Jellicle dance.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.

Practical cats, dramatical cats, pragmatical cats, fanatical cats.
Oratorical cats, delphicoracle cats, skeptical cats, dispeptical cats.
Romantical cats, pedantical cats, critical parasitical cats, allegorical cats.
Metaphorical cats, statistical cats, and mystical cats.
Political cats, hypocritical cats, clerical cats, hysterical cats.
Cynical cats, rabbinical cats.

Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats.

There's a man over there with a look of surprise,
as much as to say 'Well, now how about that.'
Do I actually see with my own very eyes?
A man who's not heard of a Jellicle Cat?

What's a Jellicle Cat? What's a Jellicle Cat?

Missing Verses:

Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats
Jellicle bells that Jellicles ring
Jellicle sharps and Jellicle flats
Jellicle songs that Jellicles sing

Interpretations:

“The Overture basically tells what makes a Jellicle Cat. It introduces you to the Jellicles as they sing their solos and tells of the different types of Jellicle Cats.”-Munkustrap Kitty

"It explains everthing about a Jellicle Cat. It shows the audience what they are, and what they can do- It sets the plot."-Jennyanydots